A gold and silver themed custom deck

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A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »



A gold and silver themed custom deck


Hi everyone,

Here is a new deck I am working on. It features interweaving gold and silver bands. The ink colors are red, black, metallic gold and metallic silver.

The court cards are custom illustrations that are a hybrid between the traditional English designs like the classic Bicycle face cards and a semi-realistic depiction of royalty.

The numbers cards use the same design elements as the court cards and the card back.

I am still deciding on the name of the deck.

It will be on Kickstarter with a limited edition of 1,000.

Any suggestions, or votes on which versions you like, would be welcome.


Some possible color variations for the card backs:

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The Kings:

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The Jacks:

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Some Numbers:

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2 variations of the Aces:

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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by cherrynukacola »

Maybe it's just me, but those vertical stripes look a little like prison bars!
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A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by Slavich »

cherrynukacola wrote:Maybe it's just me, but those vertical stripes look a little like prison bars!
Exactly what I thought too. Like the courts very much but would consider doing something about those lines
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

Me too. Works alright on the back (go for D with more black), but the faces are a bit busy - the vertical lines seem more in the way than part of the design...
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by ecNate »

Agree, remove bars in the circle leaving just the arches. did a quick edit of it myself and suggest you give it a try and consider that.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by volantangel »

Some of the courts look like they are done from the same template, and its pretty obvious, perhaps change the faces up a little more, make each court more unique.

And yes please remove the bars.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by Yashi »

I like it with the bars and all. My only problem is that the Kings look too similar except the KoD and the aces (1st variation) should be outside the bars to keep it consistent with all the other cards.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by sprouts1115 »

You must respect the indices. If they are not clearly visible the deck is doomed. Where is the suit indicator in the courts? The suit in the indices is small...
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by ecNate »

sprouts1115 wrote:You must respect the indices. If they are not clearly visible the deck is doomed. Where is the suit indicator in the courts. The suit in the indices is small...

Triple $ speaks the truth here (I'm just sad there is no 's' in my name :lol: ). Very valid point, bring the bars in, indices out and skip the bars in the center. I was so focused on the center of the cards I never noticed that.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Thank you for your feedback everybody.

Everyone has commented about the 'prison bars' effect on this and the other deck design forum. Good point, the black lines with solid color is too strong. The bars are supposed to just be a border effect.

On the face cards, I am going for a variation on the standard face cards with graphic lines and a standardized pose, etc. I have one-eyed Jacks, a one-eyed King, and a King of Diamonds with an axe. I skipped the Suicide King, but if I'm doing the other standards I should do that one as well. I will change the design to have the sword passing behind his head. I have given them all different faces with beards and mustaches like the standard Bicycle design, but I may need to vary them more. The suggestion for a larger suit indice on face cards is a good one. I considered it before, and now see that it is an important element that should be included, I will add in the next stage of design.

Here is the current version of the design. Further suggestions are still welcome of course.

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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by Mike Ratledge »

Well, always being traditional when applicable: is that King going to jump in a lake or something? He doesn't look suicidal to me...
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by Eoghann »

Really liking how it's shaping up. I'd love to see some queens. :)
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by sprouts1115 »

@RandCo - After taking a second look at your cards. If you want to go against the grain of non traditional courts. That's fine. I like people who break the rules. Just know your Knaves are fine with the pikes and halberds. When cards were first made the Kings had 2 swords and 2 axes. Kings with swords were KoS and KoC. Kings with axes were KoD and KoH. The only thing you might want to include is an orb somewhere for the KoC. Your queens should all have flowers, but the QoS also has a specter. Hope that helps. This is a good site to look at the traditional courts to get some ideas. http://whiteknucklecards.com
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Here is the latest version of the number cards and the card backs.

As far as the Suicide King Mike, I was referring to an upcoming version of the king, not the ones I posted last. I will keep the King away from water just in case though.

Speaking of the QoH, thanks sprouts1115 for letting me know about the king having an axe. I have been basing the court cards on the standard English model, but I used info on the early French cards to determine the weapons they were supposed to be holding. The axe will allow me to keep the same format as the other kings with the vertical weapon, and also make it 'suicidal' by having the axe go behind his head.

I am considering making two decks with different backs to make it a poker set.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone, the design is looking a lot better already from your input.

I will be posting revised kings and jacks soon.


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Here is the Suicide King and new Aces. The deck was initially just influenced by the Art Deco style, now I am going to make it fully an Art Deco themed deck. The court cards will be like this card with the artwork more geometric and flattened. The axe is based on the KoH holding one in the early French cards, all of the weapons held by the Kings and Jacks are based on the Rouen Pattern.


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by sprouts1115 »

RandCo - Nothing wrong with that KoH. Your indices are improved. Remember your AoS is your ID card. You can put text on it; Like your name, name of your cards anything you want. Or you can leave it like it is. It's embellished.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Thanks Russell, your suggestion really helped me. I plan on adding Printed by the Expert Playing Card Company ... etc., in the bottom section and the deck title or something else in the top section before I go to KS.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Here is the latest version with both backs and 3 of the queens. It is more of an Art Deco styled deck now. I’m still deciding on a title for the deck.


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

This deck design is almost final now. I will be putting it on Kickstarter soon. I had to postpone working on it for almost 2 months because I was working on other projects. Once again I would appreciate any critique or comments.


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Here is an update of the aces. This design relates to the suit designs within the back design. Do you prefer this or the simpler aces above?


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

Those look much better than the simpler ones. Love the geometric patterns. Maybe make the lines on the Diamond, Club and Heart just a little bit more pronounced.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by sprouts1115 »

@RandCo - Sorry, but your Aces cry out for BIG ass embossed aces in your theme. :cry:
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

Thanks for the input guys. Based on your input and Don Boyer's at PCF, I made the middle pips larger. The design is more balanced now. I tried versions with the C,H, and D aces similar to the AoS during the design process, but the club and heart aces didn't work as well because the large pips are not the ideal shape.


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

I meant the lines on the big pips btw, I feel like they're a tad too vague.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

MagikFingerz wrote:I meant the lines on the big pips btw, I feel like they're a tad too vague.
Thanks for the input Tom. I tried the design with solid red and gold in the large suit lines, like the spade's border. It was too prominent, once again the AoC and AoH didn't balance well.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

I am thinking about having 2 gaff cards in the deck. The first gaff card would be a double back, I think this would look good as the first card on the uncut sheet. Here are 2 possibilities for the second gaff card, which do you think would be best?


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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

This custom deck is now live on Kickstarter.

Thanks to everyone who commented with critique on this design! You definitely contributed in a serious way to the design process and helped me to create this deck.

Here is the link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/62 ... ying-cards" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by JacksonRobinson »

I'm late to this discussion, but these have really come a long way for the better. I think the design is pretty solid. My only comment would be not to use gold and silver together. It is kind of a design fopaux to use gold and silver together much like it would be to where a gold ring next to a silver one. When you mix to different metallics they both loose much of their pop from being metallics.

Try making an all gold deck with different values of gold and a silver deck with the same.
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by Mike Ratledge »

RandCo wrote:This custom deck is now live on Kickstarter.

Thanks to everyone who commented with critique on this design! You definitely contributed in a serious way to the design process and helped me to create this deck.
Here is the link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/62 ... ying-cards
>Mike<
"You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself"
They say "Ignorance is bliss". Obviously, some people are much happier than others...

Members are encouraged to
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Re: A gold and silver themed custom deck

Unread post by RandCo »

I'm late to this discussion, but these have really come a long way for the better. I think the design is pretty solid. My only comment would be not to use gold and silver together. It is kind of a design fopaux to use gold and silver together much like it would be to where a gold ring next to a silver one. When you mix to different metallics they both loose much of their pop from being metallics.

Try making an all gold deck with different values of gold and a silver deck with the same.

Thank you for your advice Jackson. I considered making a separate gold and silver deck, but because I am new to this, I wanted to make this deck project simple with a fairly low Kickstarter goal. The gold and silver in this deck are not used the way metallic inks are typically used though, as a highlight. They are used almost structurally, as primary elements in the borders, etc. It's also difficult to show the metallic effect on screen. The PMS inks that would be used on this design are deeper than colors I can show on screen. The gold ink is close to bronze in color and the silver is a dark cool silver PMS ink. As you know, metallic inks aren't very shiny, they're more of a burnished, satin type of finish. I agree that a light and yellowish gold and a light silver would lack enough contrast, but I think the darker deep inks I have in mind would work. It doesn't look like the deck is going to be funded anyway.

I am a big fan of your work, I like every deck you've designed. You're widely considered to be the best custom card designer for good reason. I especially like the Independence and Civil War decks. I think you understand playing card design better than anybody, and that's saying a lot, because as you know, there are some excellent card designers.

I'm also amazed by the amount of detail you put in your illustrations, while maintaining good contrast and legibility. That's not easy to do. I've been doing pen & ink, and now vector illustration, for many years. I know how hard it is to do illustration at your level.
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